After some months of grumbling (mainly to myself) about the fact that none of the music shops around these parts seem to stock anything but Generations, I finally found not one but TWO exceptions. One of the big music shops I haven’t been to for a while has now got Susatos, and I discovered a little out of the way shop that sells Feadogs and the Guiness whistle.
My question is one of relative cost. The Feadogs and Guiness are all about $15 NZ but the Susatos are $60-180 NZ. The C&F page on inexpensive whistles sort of suggested that maybe the Susatos should be / could be up to twice the cost of the others, but not four times.
My question is, have the Susatos gone up in price lately? Or should I just assume that the bigger store is placing a bigger markup on their stock?
Thanks for that Brett… I weakened and bought the Feadog D already (a nice bright red one - should help me play fast ) and I will probably get the Walton’s Guiness (for playing while drinking beer I guess ) in the next couple of weeks … then if my fiancee hasn’t locked me up for my WhoA I will look into the Susato …
The NZ dollar is pretty close to 2/3 of a US dollar, it looks like.
As Bretton said, a non-tuneable Susato (Dublin model) should be ~$30 NZ for a high D
The tunables (Kildare model) run about half again as much. Figure around $45 NZ for a Kildare D.
If you are buying several whistles at once, it may be cheaper to order them from the US, since shipping 1 or half a dozen whistles costs about the same.
But I’ve no idea about the customs duties you’ll be paying - it may be that when you factor in shipping and customs your local shop is actually giving you a fair price.
You may also want to consider ordering a Syn from Australia - they cost about $35-40 here in the US, but it may actually be cheaper than a Susato in New Zealand (do you charge duty on Australian products?). Darn good whistles, too.
Hi Chris,
you’re not the Chris from the Morris Group are you? One of the military style drums I did is still doing the rounds of NZ with a Morris group (still going, two heads later). Send a pm if I can help with what some people think might be a decent whistle, and at a comparable price to what they charge over there for a susato.
Cheers
Do contact Mr. Syn. He makes a great aluminum set and high D and C in Lancewood. His whistles displaced my wifes favorite whistle she had for over a year!!!
He’s pretty fast making them, and his whistles are really good value for money. They’re not the most refined-looking, but they play well and reliably, and that’s most impt, at the end of the day. He’s especially good for when you want more unusual keys.
) and I will probably get the Walton’s Guiness (for playing while drinking beer I guess 
:roll: 
